Sunderland boss Mick McCarthy says there's been a loosening of the Stadium of Light purse strings&#x85; And he is ready to spend again to bring Premiership football back to Wearside.

But the Black Cats boss - who has paid tribute to the financial work done by club chairman Bob Murray - admits that he will still be restricted to the bargain basement when the transfer window re-opens in January.

Having confirmed his interest in Huddersfield striker Jon Stead, McCarthy added: "I wouldn't want fans to look at what's been on the TV and in some of the papers about bids I've made for players and think 'wey-hey, here we go!' because some of the amounts of money mentioned have been a little bit wide of the mark."

"But it's fair to say I have an interest in Stead and am looking at players all the time.

"We - and I stress we because the chairman, Bob Murray, has been working away at it - have been trying to reduce our wage bill which has been done.

"The real graft has been to enable me to bring somebody in - to get loads off the wage bill, to get that down and enable the team here to go forward.

"There's been an awful lot of work done to get to the position we are in where at least I can be showing an interest in someone."

Despite Sunderland's financial plight, McCarthy has already managed to boost his squad by bringing in players on free transfers and loans.

That bargaining, along with Murray's work in offloading 23 players since the end of last season, means the club can now pay modest fees for players to bolster the Black Cats' promotion push.

"You've seen it already with the fact we've been able to bring players in on loan," said McCarthy.

"And I think now it's a case of if the right players are available at the right price, then we might be able to bring them in."